ॐ
Psilosopher
Hi all,
As you can gather from the thread title, my 2L borosilicate erlenmeyer broke during the last pull of a dmt extraction (this was a month or two ago now, didn't get around to make a post before). Luckily, I was performing the procedure in my garage instead of my kitchen, and I had a bucket of water at the ready which I quickly dumped the leaking flask into.
A small piece of glass had popped out of the bottom, luckily the whole thing didn't shatter on me, and there was not too much cleanup work. I was also wearing safety goggles and gloves, so no harm was done.
As you can imagine I was quite taken aback how my sturdy-looking flask broke while performing its first extraction. I have to add that I do not have much free time, so the base soup had been sitting in the flask for over a month, pulls were done once every weekend. Is it possible that such prolonged exposure to highly basic liquid could have etched and weakened the glass? I was under the impression that would not be the case?
I also have to add that I used a magnetic stir bar in the initial steps, and I did not have a magnetic rod to remove it back then, so I left it in there, and have shaken the flask quite heavily multiple times before each pull (I used Cyb's Max Ion and I guess the salt did a good job preventing emulsions as it was very liquid and separated very well no matter how hard it was shaken). The stir bar is teflon coated, and I wouldn't think it could really damage the thick glass. Maybe I also did not vent pressure fast enough, and the combination of factors (prolonged exposure to highly basic liquid, the stir bar knocking against the glass and not venting pressure enough) eventually cracked the weakest point of the flask? Maybe it was solely extreme built up pressure that did it? I'm really not sure.
Now that I have a rod to remove the stir bar, I won't be leaving it in anymore, and I will also pay careful attention to release pressure far quicker.
However, I still wonder what effect the prolonged exposure to basic liquid really has on the glass. Can anyone chime in and put my mind at ease? I want to purchase a new 2L flask for a next extraction, and would like to hear about this before I proceed with further experiments. I'm afraid I have no alternatives to letting the liquid sit for a long time, I really cannot perform the procedure in just a few days.
As you can gather from the thread title, my 2L borosilicate erlenmeyer broke during the last pull of a dmt extraction (this was a month or two ago now, didn't get around to make a post before). Luckily, I was performing the procedure in my garage instead of my kitchen, and I had a bucket of water at the ready which I quickly dumped the leaking flask into.
A small piece of glass had popped out of the bottom, luckily the whole thing didn't shatter on me, and there was not too much cleanup work. I was also wearing safety goggles and gloves, so no harm was done.
As you can imagine I was quite taken aback how my sturdy-looking flask broke while performing its first extraction. I have to add that I do not have much free time, so the base soup had been sitting in the flask for over a month, pulls were done once every weekend. Is it possible that such prolonged exposure to highly basic liquid could have etched and weakened the glass? I was under the impression that would not be the case?
I also have to add that I used a magnetic stir bar in the initial steps, and I did not have a magnetic rod to remove it back then, so I left it in there, and have shaken the flask quite heavily multiple times before each pull (I used Cyb's Max Ion and I guess the salt did a good job preventing emulsions as it was very liquid and separated very well no matter how hard it was shaken). The stir bar is teflon coated, and I wouldn't think it could really damage the thick glass. Maybe I also did not vent pressure fast enough, and the combination of factors (prolonged exposure to highly basic liquid, the stir bar knocking against the glass and not venting pressure enough) eventually cracked the weakest point of the flask? Maybe it was solely extreme built up pressure that did it? I'm really not sure.
Now that I have a rod to remove the stir bar, I won't be leaving it in anymore, and I will also pay careful attention to release pressure far quicker.
However, I still wonder what effect the prolonged exposure to basic liquid really has on the glass. Can anyone chime in and put my mind at ease? I want to purchase a new 2L flask for a next extraction, and would like to hear about this before I proceed with further experiments. I'm afraid I have no alternatives to letting the liquid sit for a long time, I really cannot perform the procedure in just a few days.
